Project update. Sorry its been so long.

Alot has happened with the cabin project since the last update. The roof was completed and then the windows went in. We were able to get these windows at an incredible price off of criagslist. And they matched quite nicely.

Here is another view of the building from the back with the windows in and the roof completed. Also in the middle of this wall the load center and meter are now installed.

Side view with the porch. We are going to add a banister around the porch for the kids and other not so careful people. Like yours truely. I stepped backward off the porch thinkng the steps were behind me. It was not to bad, just wigged out my leg. Could have been worse since it was like a 5 foot drop. Oh well. I guess i pioneered that for everyone.

Big happening, Bill Breeze came from Cali for two weeks and helped the team make huge progress. While he was here the power went in, and the dry wall and the bathrooms. Thanks a million Bill for your help.


Here is what the bathrooms look like. Very professional.

John put in the ceiling paneling with the exhaust fans. it all came out looking sweet. There are 3 lofts the biggest one being about 15 by 20 feet spilt level. And the drywall went in as well.

Dale wiring up the whole house. He even took the time to counter sink spot lights into some of the loft supporting logs. definately a nice touch.

Another view of one of the smaller lofts. They will be handy for living or working spaces, or just for lots of storage. which is kind of strange idea, as we never have any storage.

Stay tuned for more frequent updates.

Progress..... on other fronts. The Teen club house.

Here is the story of the new club house building which was recently donated. The 30by40 building is for the Safe teen project and we had to find a way to get in from the road to its site. So we rented a bob-cat and first made a ramp. So we could get it in off the road.

Here is the cool bob-cat which was like driving a large Computer game console with joy sticks and everything. It had genuine force feed back. I.e no suspension and solid tires so it was a bit jarring to drive around. Esp for 8 hours. So we took turns.


Then we filled a large ditch and leveled it all out so the building could come through. We had plenty of grade around in piles which was donated by the manuciple road works when they were digging a pipe line near by and needed a place to dump the displaced soil. So they gave it to us.

Here is Dale taking his turn. He actually liked driving the bob-cat and i had to pry him out so i could get my last turn in. Just kidding.

We finished all the dirt work and the building rolled in 30 minutes later on a cool building moving trailer imported from New zealand. It was attached to a truck but the back wheels of the trailer had about 5 hydralic adjustments for the angle and height and you could control the whole thing from a little hand held remote. Biggest RC vehicle i had ever seen.

Another picture of the building going into place. It hit a bridge and some road signs on the way in so its a little scraped up. but nothing that won't buff out. PTL. Now we have a cool building sitting next to the kids class room. They have began to have weekly area teen meetings in the building. And we will fix it all up soon. Stay tuned for more updates on that project. When they happen.

a little progress update on the cabin

And the roof is done. God bless John who did almost all of the work on the roof. It was a great big job but it all worked out and got done. Here are a couple of pics of us putting the shingles on the back side of the building.

The pitch of the roof was so steep we had straps to keep us from slipping and rolling off the roof.

Work now is being done on the inside of the building and its moving forward. more pictures coming shortly.

The porch roof

Here are pictures of the porch roof going in place the rafters for the porch roof are 4 by 6 and the boys cut a design into the end of each one. It took a bit of time but the effect is definitely worth it.

John looking all happy with his work. Good work John.

Here is a better picture of the porch roof. Tim from Blanco came over to check it out so we snapped a picture of him on the roof too. Hi, there Tim.

Here is what it looks from underneath with the planking. we wanted to do it in planking instead of OSB so that the nails and anchors we use for the roofing material won't come through.

Here is another view. See how the porch roof changes the look of the building giving it quite a bit more character.

Now comes the roof

We had quite a bit of rain this last week because of the hurricane Dolly. but still the work went on. Matthew came over and helped us frame the roof. i was not involved at all, as Leila had the baby last week and that kept me pretty busy. But check out what did get done.

You can see the framing of the porch roof supports in this picture.


Here is John and Phil putting on the OSB for the roof. Note: how steep the roof is.


Soon we will be out of the weather. Hurray

Here are some more pictures to show what has been happening in the last week or two.

The roof, and porch, and inner walls.

Okay now comes the gabled ends of the building. Here they are going into place. John anchored the logs at the apex. It was about 18 ft off the ground and we did not have a ladder tall enough so he just shimmed up the log and anchored it down. Very brave man.

Here is a view from the inside of the building we were going to complete the gabled ends with Logs (Ie fill the holes in the triangle thingy) but we decided to go with siding instead as it was faster and so much simpler. And we could move on to the roof without completing the sides. We have Mat coming to help us put the roof on this week so we wanted to jump to that phase of the building. (remember Matthew from the blanco home who helped us move the studio?)

In preperation for the roof we have to have the porch posts in place. Here we have a pic of Dale craving out the porch beam to accept the posts. The beam and posts are 6 inches by 8 inches. it will have a robust look. At least it should.

framing out the inside of the building checkout how high the center wall is.




Pictures from the other side of the dividing wall

Here is a picture of the slots we had to cut above the door and windows to accept the top trim of the windows as the walls shrink and settle. Oh joy.

God bless John and the boys who did all that.

And the last of the perimeter logs......

This was a momentous day. Why? ‘Cause the last of the perimeter logs went into place. We carved our names and symbols into the last one dropped in place. So in 100 years when this building is a national heritage site and they need to move it they will find all of our names for quick and easy reference.

Here is pic of the view from the top of the wall. It's kind of high from up here.

Dale atop the wall anchoring it down. Note the wires coming up through it.

We put in these really nice large windows cause we got a very good deal on this size window. I think it will work out nicely. Each window will have a nice view and let in plenty of light.

Next comes the gabled ends which we still have not quite figured out how to do yet. Pray we can figure it out/make up our minds how we want to do it. And then comes the roof and then finally we are out of the Texas sun. While it is good vitamin D and all, according to experts you only need 10 minutes of exposure to get your daily dosage, and in Texas, on a hot day that would probably translate into like 30 seconds. Anyway, all that to say we are looking forward to having the roof on and working in the shade. Stay tuned for more pics and progress.

Its happening just as it was foretold.

Here are more pictures of the progress that has been made lately. You can see the smaller bathroom window frames behind Gabe and his large hammer.

Sam laying the pink insulation foam between each log

Check out the corners. They have 12 inch flyaways on them. It really gives it the authentic cabin look..

Sam feeling all powerful atop the wall. This is basically how the corners will look from the inside.

John using the 10 inch chop saw to do some fine cuts.

Over all the progress on the cabin has been great. the wheather has been good and each day we go up a few more courses of logs. Soon will come the gabled wall ends and the roof. Stay tuned

More progress.

Here are a few more pictures to see the next steps. The project is moving along nicely and John is happy with how fast installing the logs has gone. You can see the window bucks going in. Thats kind of like the frame for the windows so that the walls can shrink around the windows. We thought it would be very complex to factor that in, but considering how very "professional" our work crew is we did not run into any difficulty with it.....yet.

We picked up some pink colored foundation foam it comes in a roll and is so much cheaper to put in than adhesive weather stripping. it goes between the window bucks and the logs and helps to seal it all up good. (Cool tip from Jeff the man who sold us the logs)

Sorry no pictures of the guys doing the work. i will include more of those next time. We have had a bit of rain this week and that has set us back a little.

A A picture is worth a thousand words so i will let the pictures do the talking. Enjoy.

Pray for us as we keep moving forward with the project dispite the ever increasing price of gas. (it sort of effects alot of things like the price of materials and transprotation etc.) The Lord has gotten us this far so we are confident He will continue supplying for the project. So send us a prayer when you get a chance. Thank you.

Back to the log cabin

Okay, now the phase we have all been waiting for. John and team have began to put down the first course of logs. I have not been so involved with this part of the job as I am trying to figure out how to get electricty to the studio and this cabin. But rather than bore you with pictures of wires and junction boxes, I thought to show you the progress the team is making with the logs.

Here is a pic of the very first log going into place

nchoring the first log into place with 10inch lag bolts. Apprantly all the logs are going to be secured with those 10inch lag bolts.


More action on the site. They got alot done in the first day

Putting down the logs is plenty of fun but you do have to account for boring things like doors and windows. Check out the door opening and also the new addition to the crew, Gabe, a long time friend and missionary from Thailand. Not that he is Thai but rather that is where we knew each other as young teens serving the Lord in the faraway land of Thailand.

One nice feature of working with logs is the "R" factor or the thermal properities, or in layman terms it helps keep the place cool in summer and warm in winter.

The fourth layer staring to go down soon there will be openings for windows etc.

The work area looking like a old ship builders yard with all that heavy lumber. Stay tuned for more pictures and progress.


PS Please keep us in your prayers as Leila is getting very close to having the baby. So I might be a little busy on the domestic front for a little while. Many pictures of that coming your way but not on this blog.